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Oregon Athletic Clubs closes Duniway gym with no scheduled reopening

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A runner cruises the Duniway Park track Wednesday afternoon beneath the gym owned by Oregon Athletic Clubs. Members aren't sure what the gym's future might be after hearing the building's owner and the gym operaters will face off later this week in court.
(Brittany Greeson/The Oregonian)

Don Pak, president of Oregon Athletic Clubs, said he has "every intention" of keeping up operations at Duniway.

"There were some things (the building's owners) were supposed to fix that they agreed to on paper that weren't executed," he said, listing issues with the locker rooms and the ventilation system. "We want to keep that club, it's a great location."

Pak said that Duniway employees, which Oregon Athletic Clubs recently provided with health insurance, are working at the company's other gyms.

View full sizeDuniway Athletic Club members now find locked doors and an eviction notice taped to the front door of the gym.Brittany Greeson/The Oregonian

An employee from the nearby RiverPlace gym, where Duniway members have been directed, said the shuttered facility will reopen when an issue is worked out between Oregon Athletic Clubs and the Duniway building's owner. He said there's no exact timeline of when that will occur.

"It's been an interesting ride over there," said Jim Morris, a longtime member who recently quit the gym over frustrations with the company since its transition from Allstar to Oregon Athletic Clubs.

Other members at that time of the change in control were upset when Oregon Athletic Clubs' former owner laid off employees. Former member Hollis McMilan said his trainer was let go in the shake-up, so he asked to be refunded for for the advance payments he'd made for upcoming training sessions. He said the gym owner stalled until McMilan filed a lawsuit, which eventually settled.

Morris and other members said they watched equipment being moved out of the gym in late July, including the flat-screen televisions off the walls.

Representatives from Duniway Madron, the company that identifies itself as the building's owner and filed the eviction paperwork on Aug. 1 at the Multnomah County Courthouse, did not return calls for comment.